title: Altered functional connectivity of basal ganglia circuitry in dental phobia.
abstract: Recent symptom provocation studies that compared patients suffering from dental phobia with healthy controls identified hyperactivation of basal ganglia structures, but none have assessed striatal functional connectivity. We reanalyzed data from a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study on dental phobia. Patients (20 men, 25 women) and healthy controls (18 men, 23 women) had been exposed to pictures showing dental treatment, and neutral contents. We conducted connectivity analyses via psychophysiological interactions (PPIs). Relative to non-phobic controls, the patients showed decreased connectivity between prefrontal and basal ganglia regions. Moreover, the clinical group was characterized by increased internal basal ganglia connectivity, which was more pronounced in female compared with male patients. This study provides first evidence for an altered information flow within a fronto-striatal network in dentophobic individuals during visual symptom provocation, which can be considered a neuromarker of this disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Scharmüller
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Leutgeb
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schöngaßner
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hermann
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria and Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str.10, 35394 Giessen, Germany anne.schienle@uni-graz.at.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schienle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000473:pathology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011601:Psychophysics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: connectivity; dental phobia; psychophysiological interactions; sex differences